The Committee to Protect Journalists has released the “Attacks on the Press” report

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released its annual “Attacks on the Press” report, a study that makes a global analysis of the state of press freedom.

The Risk List featured in the 2013 edition of the report includes countries such as Pakistan, Somalia and Brazil, locations where the murder rates and entrenched impunity are high.

Ecuador, Turkey and Russia are named the countries where authorities use restrictive laws to silence the press. Numerous journalists have been imprisoned on anti-state charges in Syria, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey and Ethiopia.

"When journalists are silenced, whether through violence or laws, we all stand to lose because perpetrators are able to obscure misdeeds, silence dissent, and disempower citizens," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

"The battle to control information is an assault on public accountability that cannot go unchallenged. Governments must prosecute perpetrators and stop those seeking to incapacitate public oversight by blunting critical and probing reporting."

However, in modern times, there are other threats that journalists have to worry about.

Mahoney told Reuters that cyberattacks on news organizations and journalists had increased considerably over the past few years. Perpetrators often turn to such practices because they represent an easy and inexpensive way to censor someone.